GATESVILLE – The Coryell County Commissioners Court met Monday outside of its regularly scheduled meetings to get the ball rolling after nearly two years on the Arrowhead Road bridge project.

County Judge John Firth said the purpose of the meeting was to open bids for the project.

The court received two bids, which are being assessed until next week's meeting.

During the spring months of 2007, Copperas Cove experienced severe flooding, and in May, ravaging flood waters claimed the lives of Jesse Scott Hornsby, 75 and his wife, Gloria Evelyn Hornsby, 73, near the Big Valley subdivision in Copperas Cove.

The couple was traveling to their home in Big Valley in their white Dodge Caravan when their vehicle careened off the road and lodged between two trees about 30 yards down Clear Creek. The van flipped more than 180 degrees, crossing the creek in the process.

The Hornsbys' bodies were found nearly a mile down the road from where their vehicle was located.

As a result, the county applied for a grant through the state's Office of Rural and Community Affairs to have an all-weather bridge built at the Arrowhead site.

In November 2007, the grant application was approved, but since then, the county has been waiting for hydrology reports, environmental reports and a design for the proposed bridge.

Firth said he anticipates the bridge's completion before the end of the year.

Because Big Valley residents are isolated from any possible evacuation route with each rain, the expeditious approval of bids was necessary for the safety of residents.

In other action, the court approved Coryell County subdivision regulations in accordance with chapters 232 and 233 of the Texas Government Code that will require subdivisions to be built to certain standards and specifications.

Firth said the approval of the regulations will protect the standards, safety and rights of property owners.